Gippalai Day
by SakuraBubbles the Muffin Child
Summary: GippalBaralai pairing for September first, which is officially GIPPALAI DAY! Yay! But why is September first Gippalai Day? Well... it all started a longactually, why don't you read about it in here? For here, my friends, is the origin of Gippalai Day.


Hiya! SakuraBubbles here. WOOT! After nearly a month of trying to plan something for Gippalai Day, one night of insomniac wrote the entire thing!! YAY!  
  
The good thing is, I touched up the weak, I'm-too-tired to pay attention blotches. I do hope you all enjoy it! Also, I hope that no one else had this idea as well! XX  
  
Also, just ignore the fact that Gippal and Baralai are really two years apart in age. You could call this an AU, I suppose… just pretend they're the same age just this once, okay?  
  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Final Fantasy 10-2 or any of the characters depicted in this that are from that seriously awesome game. That game belongs to Square Enix. Go them!

* * *

On the first day of school, the primary thing that the first grade class noticed was that there was an Al Bhed in the group of students. He didn't know anything other than his own language, but the teacher was determined to teach him otherwise. The other kids were somewhat mean to him, teased him, and called him names because he was Al Bhed of course, that and he had an eye patch over his right eye. All but three were mean to him. Two of the three just didn't care enough. One felt bad.  
  
During lunch time, the Al Bhed sat alone at one of the long tables in the cafeteria, portraying his loneliness. However, one of the three that weren't mean to him came over to sit with him. His skin was dark but his hair was white, so he had been the object of ridicule prior to the Al Bhed's presence and thus knew how he felt.  
  
"Hello," greeted the tan boy.  
  
"Hel-lo," said the Al Bhed in return, recognizing the word "hello" as a greeting equivalent to the Al Bhed greeting "rammu."  
  
"What's your name?" asked the tan boy. The Al Bhed only recognized the word "name."  
  
"Gippal!"  
  
The unnamed boy waited. Gippal munched on his lunch. The tan boy frowned.  
  
"Aren't you gonna ask my name?"  
  
Hearing the word "name" again, Gippal repeated in the only way he knew how, "Gippal."  
  
"No, no, that's **your** name—"  
  
"Gippal!"  
  
"Stop that!!"  
  
"Baralai," warned the teacher. Baralai bowed his head.  
  
"Sorry, miss."  
  
Gippal, upon hearing the word "sorry," said, "No pobem!"  
  
"That's 'problem,' Gippal. Say problem," corrected the teacher. Gippal obeyed.  
  
"Pro-b-lem. Problem."  
  
"Good!"  
  
She awarded him with a pat on the head and continued on to check on the other children. Baralai gave up on Gippal and left the table to rejoin his friends. However, Gippal followed naively. And _continued_ to follow Baralai…  
  
/-/  
  
During recess, there was a boy reading off to the side of the playground, ignoring the hustle of the other kids completely. He had long brunette hair and had caught the interest of a young girl who (like Gippal to Baralai all of a sudden) followed him everywhere. She had done that since preschool. Baralai was conversing with the brunette.  
  
"He won't leave me alone now," said Baralai to him, pointing to Gippal, who was standing behind him, looking at the tan boy admiringly. The boy reading looked up to Baralai quickly and then went back to reading.  
  
"It's better than being called 'Noojie,'" he stated dryly. That word struck Gippal's interest.  
  
"What is 'Noojie?'" he asked innocently. A blonde girl hugged the boy reading from behind.  
  
"This is Noojie!" she squealed. Gippal studied the boy, then pointed at him.  
  
"Noojie!"  
  
"NO! It's Nooj!" Nooj snapped, trying to pry the girl off of him. Gippal repeated his newly found word, thinking that he had learned something new.  
  
"Ugh… Leblanc…" Nooj started, glaring at the blonde girl.  
  
"Leblanc," Gippal repeated. The way that the "b" and the "l" were together like that reminded Gippal of the word "problem." So, thinking absolutely nothing of it, he said, "Leblanc problem."  
  
Baralai cracked up, Nooj's face grew red, Leblanc seemed angry, and Gippal remained oblivious.  
  
"Nooj has a Leblanc problem!" Baralai laughed.  
  
"Leblanc problem!!" Gippal cheered, liking the sound of Baralai's laughter very much.  
  
"I am not a problem!" yelled Leblanc. But Baralai and Gippal continued laughing, so she stormed off.  
  
/-/  
  
As everyone prepared to leave for the day, Gippal tried to follow Baralai home.  
  
"No, you don't live with me. Stay here."  
  
Gippal understood "no," but didn't understand what his friend was saying "no" to. He continued to followed. Baralai dealt with this, expecting the Al Bhed to leave when he got to the bus. When he realized Gippal wasn't going to, Baralai turned, angry at last.  
  
"No! Go away!"  
  
He understood "go away," but not from school. He had known it from beforehand. He stopped following Baralai and ran back towards the school. Baralai watched him go and then got onto the bus.  
  
/-/  
  
The next day, Gippal stayed away from Baralai. In fact, he didn't even come outside for recess. Nooj turned a page in his book after fixing his glasses.  
  
"Perhaps you should talk to him."  
  
"That Al Bhed is more of a problem than I'll ever be!" snapped Leblanc. Baralai rolled his eyes and to Nooj's wise suggestion, he replied, "He only speaks Al Bhed."  
  
After being forced outside "to enjoy the fresh air" by the teacher, Gippal stood by the swing set, hoping to get a chance on. No one was budging, however, and if someone did get off, another kid would push him out of the way and get on the swing.  
  
One time, a bigger kid pushed him all the way to the ground in his efforts to get on the swing. However, a girl helped Gippal up and told the other kid off harshly. Like Nooj, she seemed to have this mature way about her, even at the age of six or seven. Nooj was most likely this way because he read so much. But this girl…  
  
"Than-k you," said Gippal. He felt sort of scared of her because she had piercing red eyes and gray hair. But she smiled and didn't seem so scary anymore. She pointed to herself.  
  
"Paine."  
  
He didn't know the word "pain" so her name didn't seem at all odd. He understood and pointed to himself.  
  
"Gippal."  
  
Something caught Paine's attention past Gippal's head. She smiled back to him.  
  
"See you around."  
  
Gippal's green eye followed her off and saw who the person was who had caught her interest.  
  
"Hey Baralai," Paine greeted him.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"You look sad," she noticed. Baralai nodded.  
  
"You know that Al Bhed? Well… he kept following me around yesterday… and after school it was getting annoying 'cause I didn't want him to follow me home. So I yelled at him. I told him to go away."  
  
"Oh, Gippal? I just met him over there," Paine pointed at Gippal. Baralai looked over and the blonde noticed Baralai looking and dashed behind a tree, poking his head out slightly to look back.  
  
"Gippal problem," said Leblanc dryly. Baralai gave her a dirty look before the teacher called everyone back inside.  
  
/-/  
  
"Tomorrow's the first day of September," Leblanc informed Nooj after the school day had ended and the children were pouring out of the classroom. Nooj nodded.  
  
"Very perceptive."  
  
"What's purse-eptif mean?"  
  
"Never mind. What about it?"  
  
"Don't you know that its good luck to wake up on the first morning of every month and say 'rabbit rabbit rabbit day?'"  
  
"That's stupid."  
  
"It's good luck!! Rabbits are good luck!! I always say that—except I didn't say it in August because I forgot to. But I always have good luck, so it obviously works!"  
  
"… That's stupid."  
  
"Aw c'mon Noojie!!"  
  
Baralai overheard their conversation.  
  
"A good luck chant?"  
  
Leblanc nodded proudly, "Yeah! You should do it to, Baralai!! You need luck, right?"  
  
"Maybe…"  
  
"… That's stupid," Nooj repeated as he walked off. Leblanc cooed after him and chased him right out of the classroom. Baralai shook his head and looked around for Gippal. He was no where in sight.  
  
/-/  
  
Thirty minutes after Baralai woke up, as he was on the bus, he realized and gasped in terror. He hadn't said the good luck charm!!! He had totally forgotten even after reminding himself countless times the night before. It was also raining pretty hard outside—Baralai was looking forward to outside dodge ball for gym class that day.  
  
Baralai changed his shoes and shook out his umbrella before stuffing it into his locker. As he headed toward the classroom, he noticed Gippal ahead of him.  
  
"Gippal!"  
  
Gippal turned obediently like a dog hearing its named called from its master. He saw who it was.  
  
"Hello…"  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"I'm good. It's sorta rainy."  
  
Baralai agreed with him. After a moment, he had another realization.  
  
"Whoa! You're speaking better!"  
  
"… I had my… v… friend's dad tey-teach me a bit. It's still hard."  
  
"Oh good… now I can finally tell you my name. I'm Baralai."  
  
"Baralai," repeated Gippal, liking the way it sounded. Ooh! What a fun word! "Baralai… Baralai!" He loved how the word made him use his tongue so interestingly. "Baralai!"  
  
"Stop it," said Baralai, getting annoyed. Gippal hushed.  
  
"Sorry. It's a nice name to say."  
  
"Thank you…"  
  
It was still sort of uncomfortable up until Paine rushed by Baralai, then rushed back.  
  
"You idiot! You're going to be late for class if you stand around like this!!"  
  
"Ah! Class!!"  
  
The three of them jolted off, entering the classroom half-a-second late.  
  
/-/  
  
Even on a rainy day, there was always something to do during recess. There were board games to play and card games, or plenty of books to read if you're Nooj. However, Nooj had his copy of War and Peace with him, so he was all set.  
  
Baralai still hadn't apologized to Gippal for yelling at him the other day, so he went to go talk to him. He was horrified when he saw that he was being bullied by the same kids who had been pushing him yesterday.  
  
"You think you're so much more human now that you can speak better?" asked a fat one, pushing him. The teacher had left the room for a spell, so Gippal was left alone with these kids.  
  
"I am human!"  
  
"Are not! You're Al Bhed!!" yelled a girl next to the fat boy angrily. She yanked on his hair. "This is ugly yellow hair! It's Al Bhed hair!"  
  
"It's not ugly!"  
  
"And your eye!! You only have one! I don't know which is more disgusting, the fact that you have one eye or the fact that it's an **Al Bhed** eye!" snapped a skinnier boy. Gippal's one eye was filling up with tears.  
  
"It's not…"  
  
One kid kicked him in the back of the knees so down he went. The girl was slapping him as the others were kicking him. Finally, Baralai ran over and pushed the skinny kid over.  
  
"Leave him alone!!"  
  
The fat kid glared at Baralai.  
  
"Get away, snow cone."  
  
Baralai tackled him to the ground with a loud yell, and by then, the entire class became aware of the fight. Nooj and Paine were eyeing each other nervously.  
  
"Children! Children!!" the teacher exclaimed as she came inside the classroom, pulling Baralai away from the boy. Gippal was on the floor, looking up to Baralai with a puffy, wet eye. The teacher harrumphed, "What happened here?"  
  
"He attacked me outta no where!!" yelled the fat kid, pointing at Baralai with one arm and trying to halt his bloody nose with the other arm's sleeve. Gippal shouted, "Nah-uh!! They were bein' jerks!!"  
  
"Gippal! Mind your language!"  
  
Had the teacher picked a different phrase, like "don't say bad words," Gippal wouldn't have done what he did. But he took it as though the teacher had told him to speak in his own language because he didn't deserve to speak this one. So, as the penalty for hurting a teacher goes, Gippal found himself in the office, waiting to see the principal.  
  
/-/  
  
After school, Gippal ran up to Baralai.  
  
"Hey!!"  
  
Baralai turned and greeted him with a sad smile. "What did the principal say?"  
  
"Well, he doesn't like Al Bhed very much, so he didn't see it my way. I'm goin' back to an Al Bhed school 'where I belong.'"  
  
"No!" yelled Baralai, surprising Gippal. "You can't leave the school!"  
  
"I have to. I punched the teacher."  
  
"But it's not fair!!"  
  
Baralai scowled and angrily thought of all the reasons why this situation was unfair. He then grabbed Gippal's hand.  
  
"Come over my house today!"  
  
"What? You don't want me to go away?"  
  
"No!! C'mon, you can come home on the bus with me. Leblanc's on it too."  
  
"Leblanc problem?"  
  
The two laughed a bit before Gippal said, "All right. I'll go on dra bus."  
  
"'Dra?'"  
  
"I mean 'the.'"  
  
/-/  
  
The two boys had a great time at Baralai's house, but after dinner, it was sadly, time for the Al Bhed to go home. Baralai got sour again.  
  
"It's still not fair."  
  
"How about this? Every weekend we should get together! Noojie, Paine, Leblanc problem… everyone! We need to stay together forever."  
  
Baralai nodded. "That sounds awesome! And maybe you can go to the same middle school and high school as me!"  
  
"Oac! That'd be great!"  
  
Gippal's ride had come to pick him up—they could hear the car from inside.  
  
"So I'll see you this weekend?" asked Gippal.  
  
"Yeah. I'll tell Nooj, Paine, and Leblanc."  
  
"Great! I had a lot of fun with you today. Thanks for inviting me," Gippal said, smiling to his friend before exiting the house.  
  
Around his bedtime, Baralai ran upstairs and plopped on his bed, hugging his favorite stuffed animal, a fluffy white bunny rabbit. He looked over to his calendar and went over to "x" out the day. He raised the marker to the box for the day and prepared to mark an x when he smiled and thought of something better. He wrote the words on the calendar, beaming, and then went to bed.  
  
On the calendar, he had wrote "Gippal Day."  
  
/-/  
  
Twelve years later, Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, Paine, and yes, even Leblanc were still friends. Gippal had returned to their schools just as he said he would and he and Baralai continued to have a wonderful friendship. Of course, it wasn't just a friendship anymore, as it had been 'not just a friendship' since their sophomore year together. During August of their last summer as graduated seniors, Baralai was cleaning out some of his old things as he prepared to move into a college dorm with Gippal. Gippal was helping him, of course, and came across a box in his closet.  
  
"Calendars?" he asked. Baralai looked over.  
  
"Oh yeah. I used to save my calendars because I liked the pictures that were in them—what are you doing?"  
  
"Looking at them, of course. I like pictures too, silly,"  
  
"Oh please, don't…" but Baralai's protesting voice trailed off as he sat next to Gippal, looking at the pictures, memories flooding back to his head. Gippal got to one month and peered at the scribble on the block of the first day. He couldn't read it.  
  
"What's that say?"  
  
Baralai looked at the month. September… He blushed and snatched the calendar out of Gippal's hands, standing.  
  
"It doesn't say anything at all!"  
  
"Yeah it does!! It was the only one not x-ed out!"  
  
But Gippal knew that unless he did something, he'd never find out. He tackled his lover to the ground and took back the calendar, resting on top of him. Baralai pouted.  
  
"No fair…"  
  
"I can't read it. What's it say?"  
  
"… 'Gippal Day.'"  
  
Gippal shook with laughter and Baralai, in return, bit Gippal's arm because it was the closest thing to him and the first thing that came to his mind.  
  
"Ow! You're **biting** me?!"  
  
"Don't laugh!" Baralai said after releasing Gippal's arm. Gippal rolled off of him and smiled. Baralai blushed. "I did it that day you were kicked out of the grade school. When you came over. I wanted to write 'Gippal came over' but it wouldn't fit. I figured I'd just put that."  
  
"Well, that means our anniversary is in a week or so," Gippal stated. Baralai chuckled lightly.  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"But it can't just be 'Gippal Day.' It has to be **our** day…"  
  
"Our day?"  
  
"Yeah… Gippal and Baralai Day… nah, that's too long…"  
  
"An abbreviation then? GB Day?"  
  
"That's boring…"  
  
Gippal grinned as he thought of what to call it.  
  
"How about… Gippalai Day?"  
  
"Gippalai?" asked Baralai. Gippal stroked his face.  
  
"It's our two names together. Kinda has a goofy ring to it. And you're goofy, so it works…"  
  
"Heh, if I'm goofy, I don't want to know what you are," Baralai replied. Gippal snuggled up against him.  
  
"Me? I'm in love with you."  
  
Baralai smiled and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  
  
"Gippalai Day it is then. We should celebrate…"  
  
"Wanna **celebrate** now?" asked Gippal, grinning mischievously. Baralai pushed him away.  
  
"Wait for September first."

* * *

Well, there ya go. The "origin" of Gippalai Day. ::giggles:: I had a lot of fun with this. At first they were preschoolers, but I really didn't think that they'd be that mature while in preschool. … Okay, so it's hard to think that first graders would be that mature… Oh screw it. It's just fluffly and cute. Ain't that good enough? :D ::bows and runs away:: 


End file.
